Opinion
Why Edo State needs ethnic community relations officers
Written By: Gladys Ighalo
10 Feb 2025 10:12 AM
Governor Monday Okpebholo in September 2024 won the gubernatorial election in Edo State decisively. During this month, he won the mandate to bring back peace, unity, natural justice, equity, love, smiles and true democracy to citizens of the state.
Today, the 'war' of election is over. What remains to be fought and won is information, education and knowledge disemmination of the governor's good policies, programmes and projects to all the grassroots in the state.
I helped to campaign for Okpebholo generally while also doing so specifically among the hausa communities in Edo State on one- on-one and group bases.
You might ask why I took special interest in the hausa community. It is because I speak hausa language fluently having being born in Kano in Northern Nigeria. I had my primary and secondary education in Kano, too. In case, you don't know I am known as 'the Kano-'born lady' on UNA GOOD MORNING SHOW Programme on Edo Broadcasting Service, Benin. I often use the programme every saturday to reach out on my own in clean, perfect hausa language to the hausa community in the state although I am Ishan by tribe.
From the foregoing, you can see that i am involved in information, education and communication among hausa people in Edo State. Aside from this, I interact with hausa people a lot in Benin Metropolis. It is through this, I discover that the average member of hausa community have scanty knowledge of government activities.
This is because radio and television news or programmes are not presented in bausa. Only English, pidgin and Edo State languages are used which the hausas in our midst barely understand.
The result is that they don't know much about events in the state. So, they lack adequate platform for supporting the government and mobilizing themselves for the government.
The way out is for Okpebholo to appoint an ethnic community relations officer each for all the different major non Edo State ethnic groups like the hausas, igbos, yorubas and others.
It is true Edo State boasts of an information and communication ministry and commissioner in the person of Hon Paul Ohonbamu. There is Mr. Fred Itua the chief press secretary to the governor. Also, the state owns two media outfits-namely, the Nigerian Observer and Edo Broadcasting Service, Benin. All of them are working hard to bring Okpebholo's 5- point agenda to people in the state.
But the truth is that there is an uncovered communication gap left. It is only a community relations officer in the respective ethnic groups that can fill thus gap. If appointed, their job will be to download government's development news and information which are then released in friendly cultural mode to the ethnic groups in their relevant language media understandable to them.
When people talk to people in familiar language, people understand without suffering the disorder of English or Edo State language indigestion or constipation.
Let me do an analogy here. See, it is the heart that pumps blood which passes through the aorta and the arteries on its way to the whole body. However, without the capillaries picking up the blood and continuing their distribution, the blood does not reach the trillions of cells of the body. In this analogy, the ethnic community relations officers if appointed will act like the capillaries taking government news and information in full and with accuracy to non indigenes of the state.
They will now be carried along in the inclusive government of trust Okpebholo is building in Edo State.
Unlike the former governor Obaseki, our new Sheriff in town Okpebholo speaks simple conversational english the average indigene understands.
Well, let me emphasize this. Most non indigenes, especially the hausa people , cannot access the governor's messages due to their poor english. Also there is no translations in hausa for delivering these governor's messages to them. If at all there is, few minutes's news translations never cover all the information about government's activities every hausa person in the state should know about.
Another point is that the role of ethnic community relations officers is to be the eyes and ears of the governor in each indigenous community. Remember, the governor and his information aides cannot be everywhere. But by using community relations officers, news about the great work of Okpebholo will be all over the place.
Everyone will know what the government is doing. When both indigenes and non indigenes alike are totally informed about all that the government is doing, they are well positioned to support the government, contribute to its success and avoid the malcontents of opposition propaganda.
Today, the 'war' of election is over. What remains to be fought and won is information, education and knowledge disemmination of the governor's good policies, programmes and projects to all the grassroots in the state.
I helped to campaign for Okpebholo generally while also doing so specifically among the hausa communities in Edo State on one- on-one and group bases.
You might ask why I took special interest in the hausa community. It is because I speak hausa language fluently having being born in Kano in Northern Nigeria. I had my primary and secondary education in Kano, too. In case, you don't know I am known as 'the Kano-'born lady' on UNA GOOD MORNING SHOW Programme on Edo Broadcasting Service, Benin. I often use the programme every saturday to reach out on my own in clean, perfect hausa language to the hausa community in the state although I am Ishan by tribe.
From the foregoing, you can see that i am involved in information, education and communication among hausa people in Edo State. Aside from this, I interact with hausa people a lot in Benin Metropolis. It is through this, I discover that the average member of hausa community have scanty knowledge of government activities.
This is because radio and television news or programmes are not presented in bausa. Only English, pidgin and Edo State languages are used which the hausas in our midst barely understand.
The result is that they don't know much about events in the state. So, they lack adequate platform for supporting the government and mobilizing themselves for the government.
The way out is for Okpebholo to appoint an ethnic community relations officer each for all the different major non Edo State ethnic groups like the hausas, igbos, yorubas and others.
It is true Edo State boasts of an information and communication ministry and commissioner in the person of Hon Paul Ohonbamu. There is Mr. Fred Itua the chief press secretary to the governor. Also, the state owns two media outfits-namely, the Nigerian Observer and Edo Broadcasting Service, Benin. All of them are working hard to bring Okpebholo's 5- point agenda to people in the state.
But the truth is that there is an uncovered communication gap left. It is only a community relations officer in the respective ethnic groups that can fill thus gap. If appointed, their job will be to download government's development news and information which are then released in friendly cultural mode to the ethnic groups in their relevant language media understandable to them.
When people talk to people in familiar language, people understand without suffering the disorder of English or Edo State language indigestion or constipation.
Let me do an analogy here. See, it is the heart that pumps blood which passes through the aorta and the arteries on its way to the whole body. However, without the capillaries picking up the blood and continuing their distribution, the blood does not reach the trillions of cells of the body. In this analogy, the ethnic community relations officers if appointed will act like the capillaries taking government news and information in full and with accuracy to non indigenes of the state.
They will now be carried along in the inclusive government of trust Okpebholo is building in Edo State.
Unlike the former governor Obaseki, our new Sheriff in town Okpebholo speaks simple conversational english the average indigene understands.
Well, let me emphasize this. Most non indigenes, especially the hausa people , cannot access the governor's messages due to their poor english. Also there is no translations in hausa for delivering these governor's messages to them. If at all there is, few minutes's news translations never cover all the information about government's activities every hausa person in the state should know about.
Another point is that the role of ethnic community relations officers is to be the eyes and ears of the governor in each indigenous community. Remember, the governor and his information aides cannot be everywhere. But by using community relations officers, news about the great work of Okpebholo will be all over the place.
Everyone will know what the government is doing. When both indigenes and non indigenes alike are totally informed about all that the government is doing, they are well positioned to support the government, contribute to its success and avoid the malcontents of opposition propaganda.
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